Our November 2 nd Sunday worship time is a special ceremony and celebration in remembrance of those who came before us. Whether you need the service to be more contemplative and ritualistic in concert with the Catholic All Souls Day or more akin to the joyous celebration of the Aztecan and Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations, there will be a place in the service for you to explore and receive what you need.

As Unitarian Universalists, we do not believe that the souls of the departed need help in crossing from Purgatory into heaven, as was the original purpose of All Souls Day. Therefore, we may be more comfortable with the joyous and often humorous Day of the Dead which embraces death as a normal, integral part of everyday life. Families create altars (ofrendas), and adorn them with brightly colored flowers, photographs and the

favorite foods of the deceased. The dead become guests of the living during this time of honoring and celebration. Feel free to bring a photo or personal item of your loved ones for our communal altar.

Our theme for the month of November is Nurturing Gratitude. Our November 2 nd Sunday Service will provide you with a time to reflect on the gifts your loved ones gave you before they passed. Many of these relationships were complicated, and still are. But most also contain gifts – gifts we carry in who we are, what we value, how we act in the world, and the traditions we keep. We honor them by our thankfulness for what we have received. In the words of the Reverend Michelle Collins:

We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant, speak with voices shaped by languages we did not create, breathe free air that others died to protect. Every freedom we exercise, every opportunity we pursue, every moment of safety we enjoy carries the fingerprints of those who came before…Their dreams are in our daily choices, their unfinished work in our hands. Help us become ancestors, and future generations will thank us for loving this world forward with the same fierce hope that brought us here.